Diy Music Biz Resources

Here is a list of resources that I use. Hopefully they will be as helpful to you as they are for me.

Building Your Website

WordPress – The best platform to use when creating websites. It’s free and extremely easy to use. No coding is needed everything you need coding wise is done for you with just the click of a button via plugins (most being free).

Elegant Themes – Over 70 themes, 1 cheap price. Great, for those who want to get a site up and running quickly.

Justhost – This is the host I’m using for Diy Music Biz as well various other sites that I own. Justhost is reliable as well as affordable, and their customer service is great you can reach them 24/7 via live chat or phone.

Getting Paid (Payment Processors)

Paypal – Trust worthy company that has been around for more than 10 years. They are free to use and connect directly with your bank account making sending and receiving payments from your clients easy.

Square – This is the application I use to process my transactions. It turns your phone into a credit card reader. It’s cheaper than PayPal and they’ll give you the square devices for free. Don’t make the mistake of buying them for $10 via Walmart. If you can’t find them, ask me I have a crap ton of the sliders.

Email Marketing ( Subscription Services)

Aweber – Cheap monthly plans and stability, the customer support is amazing and will walk you through anything and everything you need to know step by step. Great integration with other social media mediums. Awesome spam protection – meaning your message will land in your clients inbox!

Productivity Tools

Dropbox– My favorite file sharing service. I use it for transferring project files back and forth between clients and business partners alike. Free accounts have access to 2 gigs of space.

Evernote – It’s like bookmarking, but more powerful. It’s available for Mac/PC, IOS and Android

FreeMind – I use this application for organizing my ideas. All my thoughts, sticknotes and Evernote clips all get combined and organized into a neatly organized MindMap

Logos Graphic Design

99 Designs – I love this company, you submit an idea and description of what you want and graphic designers battle it out, you pick the winner.

DiY Video Production

(What I’m using now)

Canon t3i– Great DSLR camera, this is currently what I’m using for my youtube an video tutorials

50mm Lens– This should have been the stock lens offered with the T3i. It’s very sharp and gives a nice blurred background, and doesn’t break the bank.

SoftBox – Just one of these can light a small room and provide enough light for shooting videos. Make sure you’re using CFLs and not standard lightbulbs. CFLs run much cooler and have a longer lifespan.

H1 Zoom– Portable audio recorder that also doubles as a Usb microphone. It’s simple to use, cheap, offers good audio and runs for 10 hours on 1 AA battery.

Tascam DR40 – Similar to the H1 Zoom, but has on board preamps which allows me to improve my audio recording by using external mics. My mic of choice to use with this handheld recorder is the rode Ntg1

(What I was using)

Vado 3rd Gen – I used for my early YouTube Videos – Great in low light situations, 1 mic input

Bloggie Touch – Video quality is very good, crystal clear in good light and has autofocus

Work Lights – These work wonders, especially if you’re on a budget. 3-4 of these and some Cfls and you’re in business

Video Editing Tools

Screenflow – (Mac Users) This is the application I use for both screen recording and video editing. I do have FinalCut Pro, but it’s overkill for what I’m doing, especially when I need to create videos fast!

Music Production Tutorials

(Still building, links will change)

WinkSound – Largest FREE tutorial resource I know of online. They have tips on every piece of software on the market and they listen to their fans

Maschine Tutorials – The original Maschine Tutorial hub. They’ve been a head of the pack since day 1

The company’s state-of-the-art facilities are outfitted with the latest graphic, printing, and CD & DVD replication equipment and products, as well as in-house studios for mastering and post production, DVD and CD-ROM multimedia authoring, and award-winning graphic design.

Disc Makers also offers a variety of additional services including download cards, posters, custom USB Flash drives, music distribution, and their Disc Makers’ Echoes Blog, which offers free tools, professional advice, and insight for independent artists.